textiles · exploration · misadventure

Rosemary More

These results are more exciting than the bougainvillea, and I’m so happy with them. They are, below from left to right, mordanted with alum & cream of tartar, brass, copper, iron before and after, and iron afterbath only. The two yellows, at left, are hard to capture in the same picture as the very dark charcoal.

These floated in their dyebaths like little aliens for about a week, but I’m not sure if that worked to measurably increase saturation.

I even pulled out them out and re-mordanted them after a few days, in hopes it would increase their saturation, but no luck.

Re-mordanting in the brass pot.

Favorites are the two yellows below, top left and right, from the alum and brass mordants. The image at the top of this post is also of those two yarns. There is only a slight difference in color between the two.

The alum result is a light, butter yellow, one of my happiest colors. I dream of painting my kitchen this color one day. When I have a kitchen I’m allowed to paint. Possibly in a home I actually own.

The brass result is slightly more orange, quite pretty.

Also favorite is the deep charcoal resulting from the iron mordant. You can see the color a little better, here, with copper to the left and iron post-mordant to the right.

It’s a deep, rich charcoal with hints of rusty red. Kind of like my brain, back in the day, when I fell into the rosemary hedge. Murky, with hints of fire. I LOVE it. Imagination going WILD.

I will always want to know. September used to be my favorite month outside of December.
Favorite for the trees and leaves and cool weather.
Now it means summer is still here and fall is a long way off.